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The Victoria and Albert Museum and London Games Festival make the case for video games as an art form

admin April 23, 2026

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), a museum in London, United Kingdom, explored the intersection between games, performances and interactive art when it invited people from both the interactive design and gaming industry for the For Friday Late x London Games Festival.

More than a festival, the event made a compelling case for video games to be recognized as a legitimate art form.

Video games as an art form

Video games started as a way to kill time. The first video game for entertainment was a two-player game that simulates tennis matches, called Tennis for Two. As more people got into gaming, however, fictional adventures began to take on the qualities of art — telling stories, following design principles, communicating ideas, and evoking emotion.

Industry reports say that as of 2026, there are approximately 3.32 billion active video game players globally. Most of them see video games merely as a form of entertainment, rather than as an art form.

Eight years ago, the V&A launched its first exhibition on video games, marking the renowned museum’s first formal case for video games as art. Here, games were institutionally reframed — not as products, but as artworks worthy of preservation and critique.

Last March 27, the London Games Festival, a major annual celebration of video games and interactive culture, partnered with the V&A and invited video game designers and interactive artists.

At the said festival, the V&A shifted from a space of observation into one of interaction; galleries were activated through play, movement, and participation.

Games were framed as works where storytelling doesn’t live solely in dialogue or cutscenes, but embedded in the design itself. Mechanics, systems, level layouts, sound cues, and player choices all function as narrative tools.

The player doesn’t just follow a narrative path; they participate in constructing it, moment by moment. Every choice, movement, and action becomes part of the storytelling process.

Games in the physical space

At the exhibit, games spilled into physical space, taking the form of installations, performances, and interactive environments that audiences could walk through, touch, and inhabit.

Instead of being confined to a screen, gameplay was translated into spatial design, live performance, installation art, and soundscapes

In these settings, the environment itself became the interface. A corridor could function like a level, a room like a puzzle, and a live performer like a dynamic game system responding to the audience.

This shift challenged the traditional idea of what a video game is. Without a fixed screen, the boundaries between player and participant, game and exhibition, digital and physical were blurred.

Museum patrons entered, navigated, and experienced games as spaces.

Video games as an avenue for independent creators

At the festival, the interactive performances of the creators not only served as a venue for self-expression, but also provided an avenue for indie game developers to thrive.

Freed from the commercial constraints of large studios, indie creators approach games much like artists approach their practice — using the medium to explore ideas, emotions, and perspectives with greater freedom and intention. Their works often feel closer to installation art, experimental film, or contemporary visual art.

The museum served as a stage for indie game developers to show works that are experimental, personal, and often politically and emotionally driven.

Recognition — an essential part of an artist’s success — helps these creators connect with their audience. It also reinforces a larger point: gaming is an art form in its own right.

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The post The Victoria and Albert Museum and London Games Festival make the case for video games as an art form appeared first on adobo Magazine Online.


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